Thank goodness Ben has not turned his back on mushrooms, because I wanted to try making homemade mushroom ravioli. It was quite a production, so when morale was flagging, I decided to use a fancy jar of morel sauce for serving. The result was excellent, so I intend to stock “morale sauce” for the next time we bite off more than we can chew.
Mushroom Ravioli
1 tablespoon butter
20 ounces sliced mushrooms
2 shallots diced
1 garlic clove, minced
¼ teaspoon dried thyme
2 tablespoons white wine
2 tablespoons ricotta
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese, finely grated
Salt and pepper to taste
Homemade pasta (see below)
Morel sauce and additional parmesan cheese to serve
- Melt butter in a large pan and add mushrooms, shallots, thyme, and garlic. Cook until mushrooms are golden. Increase heat and add wine. Cook until most of the wine has evaporated. Cool slightly and pulse mixture in food processor until finely minced. Add ricotta and parmesan and pulse until fully mixed.
- Meanwhile, make homemade pasta (see below) and roll into long sheets (preferably with a pasta maker.)
- Dollop scant tablespoons of the mushroom filling onto half of a pasta sheet, spaced an inch or so away from each other. With a pastry brush, moisten the edges and spaces between the mushroom filling with water. Fold the other half of the pasta sheet on top of the mounds, and press to form raviolis. Using a tool that crimps both sides and cuts between the crimps, form raviolis. Place on a floured parchment paper lined sheet tray.
- In batches, cook raviolis in boiling salted water for about 3 minutes. Scoop raviolis out with a slotted spoon to colander.
- Warm morel sauce in a pan and add cooked raviolis. Toss to coat. Serve with additional parmesan cheese.
Homemade Pasta
4 eggs
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons salt
4 cups flour
Combine eggs, water, salt, and flour in a Kitchen Aid mixing bowl, using dough hook attachment, and mix on lowest speed until thick dough forms and cleans the side of the bowl. Continue on lowest speed a minute or two.
The next day, we used the leftover ravioli to make lazy lasagna. Delicious! And unlike ravioli production, all aspects of meal 2.0 were within Ben’s wheelhouse.
Lazy lasagna looks different each time, depending on what you’ve got, but we made a basic recipe years ago and is found at this link:
If you are doubling down with a fungi funguy, and we highly recommend that you do, try homemade mushroom ravioli with a morale sauce (when your spirits inevitably dip during the arduous procedure) followed by a lazy lasagna the next day. You earned it.